Case Number 16021

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: LIMITED EDITION

The Charge

Live life a quarter mile at a time.

Opening Statement

"Ask any real racer: It doesn't matter whether you win by an inch or a
mile; winning is winning." -- Dominic Toretto

Facts of the Case

Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker, Flags of Our Fathers) is an undercover
cop infiltrating L.A.'s illegal street racing culture in order to track down a
group of drivers responsible for a series of semi-trailer heists. He makes his
way into a team run by Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel, Pitch Black), a
talented driver and ex-con who takes care of a crew of misfits including his
girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez, Resident Evil) and his younger
sister Mia (Jordana Brewster, The Faculty). As the evidence begins to
point towards Dom as the mastermind behind the heists, Brian must choose between
professional duty and loyalty to his new friends.

The Evidence

As former Chief Justice Mike Jackson noted in his review of the original DVD
release, The Fast and the Furious is a blatant rip-off of Point
Break with street racing replacing surfing. That's not necessarily a bad
thing: Point Break is awesome in its own cheesy way, and high-speed car
races, chases, and crashes are a blast. With The Fast and the Furious,
director Rob Cohen (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) serves up a
slick, loud, vapid, by-the-numbers action picture that is loads of fun if you
shut off your brain and enjoy the fine-looking cars, cast, and Los Angeles
locations. From the fat bass in the soundtrack, to the roaring car engines, to
the rippling biceps and bodacious curves on the actors and actresses, the movie
is an unapologetic exercise in style over substance.

The screenplay by Gary Scott Thompson (88 Minutes), Erik Bergquist,
and David Ayers (Harsh Times) is basically a collection of boilerplate
scenes in which characters scowl at one another in fits of barely restrained
machismo before cutting loose in extended action sequences that involve the use
of cars to challenge each other's manhood. There are a few breaks in the action
for long and clunky passages of expository dialogue that provide information
about characters that would have been better delivered obliquely across more
than one scene. But who has time for that kind of tight screenwriting when you
have to squeeze at least 75 minutes of high-octane motor vehicle mayhem into a
107-minute picture? The lazy screenwriting hamstrings most of the young cast,
but Vin Diesel comes off surprisingly well. If you think Diesel is a poor actor,
visit or revisit The Fast and the Furious. A sequence in which Dom tells
O'Connor about his father's death and his stint in jail is awkwardly placed (it
directly answers questions O'Connor's bosses raise about Dom in the previous
scene), over-written, and exactly the sort of thing a guy like Dom wouldn't say
to another dude while hanging out in a garage. Diesel handles the huge and
unwieldy hunk of uninterrupted dialogue with aplomb, though. He's never
wrong-footed by its artificiality, and manages to imbue the scene with just the
right amount of emotion. He elevates the material. Too bad the rest of the cast
doesn't prove as competent.

One-dimensional characterizations and wooden dialogue aside, The Fast and
the Furious excels in the action department. Rob Cohen and his team don't
just do action, they overdo it. The movie uses nearly every overcooked visual
trick available to a filmmaker in 2001. Cohen even employs a variation of Matrix
style bullet time in a quarter-mile race near the beginning of the film --
there's no slow motion (thankfully), but the race is full of pulsating camera
shake, stylized blurring, and uses up a few minutes of screen time even though
we're repeatedly reminded that a quarter-mile race lasts around 10 seconds. That
initial showdown between O'Connor and Dom is followed by a series of expertly
coordinated and shot races and chases involving nearly every character in the
flick. The action culminates in a badass battle between a trio of tricked out
Honda Civics and a tractor-trailer with a very pissed off, shotgun-wielding
driver, followed by a wicked chase in which Dom is behind the wheel of his old
man's cherry 1970 Dodge Charger. When the cars (and therefore the story) is
hauling ass at such breakneck speed that you don't have time to think, the movie
is put-a-smile-on-your-face fun. Thankfully, Cohen's tempo-crashing excursions
into exposition are few enough and far enough between that they don't prevent
The Fast and the Furious from being an enjoyable piece of escapist
entertainment.

Since The Fast and the Furious is debuting on Blu-ray at the same
time as this Limited Edition DVD, I assume this disc contains a new transfer
from a high definition master. If so, the results aren't all that impressive.
The flick looked great when it first landed on DVD, but technology has advanced
and a superlative transfer in 2002 isn't necessarily superlative today. This new
transfer has strong detail throughout, but suffers from muddy color reproduction
in some isolated scenes. It's not a bad transfer, but it's not as impressive as
I was expecting.

The DTS audio track is another matter entirely. It delivers crisp, clean
dialogue even in quiet scenes, while rattling the walls during the racing
sequences. It's an excellent piece of audio work, delivering clear sound across
the entire dynamic range. Imaging is excellent, making full use of the entire
surround stage. The Dolby 5.1 track is also impressive, though it doesn't hold a
candle to the DTS.

This Limited Edition release of The Fast and the Furious is timed to
hit shelves as part of the marketing push for the theatrical release of the
fourth film in the franchise, Fast and Furious. Though the disc is a
nakedly crass marketing ploy, it does combine most of the supplemental features
from the two previous DVD releases of the movie -- 2002's Collector's Edition
and 2003's Tricked Out Edition -- into one package. So far as I can tell, the
only things that weren't carried over from the earlier releases were some
text-based cast and crew biographies and a lame enhanced viewing mode.
Everything else is here.

The supplements begin with an informative and personable audio commentary by
director Rob Cohen. He covers everything from the movie's production to his
behind-the-scenes experiences in the street racing scene. His delivery is
casual, friendly, and not at all stilted.

In addition to the commentary, this two-disc set contains featurettes,
deleted scenes, and other goodies.

The Making of The Fast and the Furious (18:02) A look at
both the production of the film and the street racing subculture that inspired
it. Rob Cohen, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and other cast and crew members talk
about their experiences.

Racer X: The Article that Inspired the Movie Kenneth Li's
Vibe magazine article about illegal street racing that inspired producer
Neal Moritz to make The Fast and the Furious.

Deleted Scenes A collection of eight individually indexed
deleted scenes that can also be strung together with a Play All option. The
scenes are accompanied by optional commentary by Cohen.

Multiple Camera Angle Stunt Sequence Raw footage of the movie's
final stunt sequence from eight different angles. The various angles are
individually indexed, but you can't switch angles on the fly with the Angle
button on your remote. There is also an option to watch the stunt as it appears
in the film.

Movie Magic Interactive Special Effects Another multi-angle
feature showing a two-car jump over train tracks. Once again, the various angles
are individually indexed and cannot be accessed via the Angle button on your
remote.

Editing for the Motion Picture Association of America (4:37)
Rob Cohen and editor Peter Honess work to cut some gore out of a truck chase
sequence in order to achieve a PG-13 rating.

Visual Effects Montage (3:44) Compares storyboards, animatics,
and raw production footage to the completed shots used in the film.

Music Videos Videos for "Furious" by Ja Rule,
"POV City Anthem" by Caddillac Tah, and "Click Click Boom"
by Saliva. There is also an advertisement for the soundtrack CD.

Music Highlights Nineteen segments from the film that
prominently feature music. The mix has been adjusted to dial down dialogue and
effects in order to emphasize the tunes.

Theatrical Trailer

Disc Two contains a digital copy of the movie that you can download to your
PC or MAC, plus some featurettes from the Tricked Out Edition DVD. The fact that
a couple of the featurettes are press kits for the first sequel in the series,
2 Fast 2 Furious, makes this release feel like an exercise in unabashed
marketing cynicism.

Quarter Mile at a Time (9:45) A look at car culture and the
history of street racing, going all the way back to Henry Ford's starting Ford
Motor Company with money he won in a race.

Turbo Charged Prelude to 2 Fast 2 Furious (6:14) A short
film starring Paul Walker that links the events of the first film to the second.
The presentation is non-anamorphic widescreen with Dolby stereo audio.

Sneak Peek at 2 Fast 2 Furious (5:13) An electronic
press kit for the first sequel.

Tricking Out a Hot Import Car (19:14) The most fascinating
featurette in the set, this one follows technical adviser Craig Lieberman as he
pimps a Mitsubishi Evo 8.

Hot Off the Street A half-dozen extended scenes from the movie,
individually indexed with a Play All option.

More than Furious (2:24) A deleted scene that was intended to
be an epilogue to the main action.

Paul Walker Public Service Announcement (:39) The film's star
takes a few seconds to urge us not to try any of the stunts we see in the movie.
The PSA also plays before the feature on Disc One.

The package also contains a free movie ticket for Fast and
Furious.

Closing Statement

If you already own one of the previous DVD editions of The Fast and the
Furious, there's no reason to trade it in for this Limited Edition, which is
more gimmick than upgrade. If you don't yet own the movie, this edition delivers
the most thorough collection of supplements.